Friday, 8 July 2016

Daily Current Affairs Update (8th July 2016)

In the first leg of his four-nation tour of African countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached Maputo, the capital of Mozambique .

This is the first official visit of the Prime Minister to Mainland Africa.

India and Mozambique have signed three Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) in areas of drug trafficking, pulse trading and sports.

These MoUs were signed between two countries at Maputo, Mozambique in the presence of PM Narendra Modi and President of Mozambique Filipe Nyusi.

Signed Agreements are given below:

MoU on long term agreement for purchase of pulses.

MoU on cooperation in the field of youth affairs and sports.

MoU on reduction of drug trafficking and psychotropic substances and related materials.

2. India, South Africa sign MoUs in four areas of co-operation:

India and South Africa have signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) and agreements in four areas of bilateral co-operation.

These MoUs were signed in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Jacob Juma in Pretoria, South Africa.

Earlier,PM Narendra Modi Modi had arrived in South Africa from Mozambique on the second leg of his four-nation tour of Africa.

The MoUs are in the area of Information and Communication technology, Tourism, Grass root innovation and ‘art and culture’.

3. Govt rolls out KVK portal for monitoring of farm centres:

Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh has launched an online portal designed to monitor the functioning of nearly 645 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), known as farm-science centres, spread across the country.

The KVKs, which have the mandate to assess agri-technology and demonstrate to farmers application and capacity development, are being set up in rural districts. Each KVK has direct interface with at least 1,000 farmers.

The KVK portal will provide information related to all schemes, market development, and weather updates, besides advisory to farmers. This portal will also facilitate online monitoring of KVKs.

The portal will have a provision for online monitoring of KVKs, which includes submission of monthly reports.

It will also have information on different services being provided by different KVKs, weather and market updates, forthcoming programmes, besides question and answer facility for farmers. The agriculture details of the district will be made available on the portal.

4. India sets up apparel training centre in Nigeria:

India has set up an apparel training centre in Nigeria to support textiles industry of the west African country.

This is a first of its kind centre in Nigeria, set up in partnership with their government.

The centre has been established in Kaduna, Nigeria under the Cotton Technical Assistance Programme for Africa.

The bilateral trade between the two countries stood at 12.17 billion dollars last year as against 16.36 billion dollars in the previous fiscal.

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer, and its major export to India is crude.

There are over 100 Indian companies present in Nigeria mainly in telecom, hydrocarbons, textiles, chemicals, electrical equipment, pharmaceuticals, plastics, IT and auto sectors.

5. Govt to clean 10 iconic places under Swachh Bharat Mission:

As per Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, the government will carry out a drive to clean ten iconic places in the country as part of a pilot project under the Swachh Bharat mission, Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

The places which have been selected are Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu and Kashmir, Taj Mahal in Uttar Pradesh, Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh, Golden Temple in Punjab, Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan, Jagannath temple in Orissa, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Maharashtra, Manikarnika Ghat in Uttar Pradesh, Meenakshi Temple in Tamil Nadu and Kamakhya Temple in Assam.

Once this pilot project is completed, the govt will carry out a similar cleanliness drive at the remaining 90 places (100 places has been chosen under this drive).

6. S K Kohli appointed as the chief defence accounts auditor:

Senior bureaucrat S K Kohli has been appointed as the Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA).

His appointment has been approved by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet as the Kohli’s empanelment for promotion to the post of CGDA.

He is an Indian Defence Accounts Service officer.

7. The second phase of Haritha Haram programme launched today:

The second phase of Haritha Haram programme of Telangana government has launched today.

The Haritha Haram programme aimed to plant 46 crore plants to improve green belt. The plantation programme which is two weeks long includes both the sides of over 163 kilometers long national highway between Hyderabad - Vijayawada.

To launch this programme across the state, the Telangana Government has taken up this task with the help of all departments, institutions, NonGovernment Organisations, school children and individuals and to implement this programme smoothly AP borders was divided into 14 segments.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has also participated in this programme at Gundrampalli near Chityal in Nalgonda district. While Ministers, legislators and bureaucrats have also taken up similar plantations at several other places in the State, including government offices and open areas.

8. Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar re-elected as Maharashtra Council Chairman:

Current Chairman of Maharashtra Legislative Council and NCP leader Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar has been re-elected as the chairman of Maharashtra Legislative Council.

The session was called especially for electing chairman in the Upper House as the term of Nimbalkar .

The West Bengal Government has taken up a project to set up three biotechnology hubs across the state to bring in more biotechnology innovations to the State.

The three proposed biotechnology hubs will come in Bardhaman, Kalimpong and Medinipur districts. They will help in the coordination of various departments with the Biotechnology Department in a better way.

The Biotechnology Department of the State has already taken up an elaborate scheme to not only tie up with other departments like Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food Processing to increase the productivity and quality of various products but to also provide germ-free food to the common people.

10. Maharashtra CM expands Council of Ministers:

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has expanded his council of ministers, inducting 11 ministers, including 10 new faces.

The six cabinet ministers include five BJP legislators and one from ally Rashtriya Samaj Paksha while the five Ministers of State include two of BJP, two of Shiv Sena and one of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna.

With this the total ministers in state cabinet is 39 now.

11. IMF sets $5.3 billion programs for Iraq:

The IMF has announced a $5.34 billion program for Iraq to help strengthen the country's finances, hit by the crash in oil prices and the fight against the Islamic State group.

The International Monetary Fund said the three-year loan will see $634 million immediately allocated to Baghdad, which needs the money to stabilise its balance of payments and ensure it can keep up with its debt obligations.

It will also focus on maintaining the peg of the Iraqi currency to the US dollar, while slowly removing exchange restrictions. The program will involve fiscal consolidation moves aimed at cutting inefficient capital expenditure and at the same time protecting social spending.

The IMF added that the money under the new program will also support measures to protect the poor, strengthen financial management, and fight corruption.

12. Nasscom unveils India's first IoT-focused centre:

National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) has unveiled India’s first centre of excellence focused on Internet of Things (CoE- IoT) at its Startup Warehouse in Bengaluru which is inaugurated by Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Electronics, IT, Law & Justice.

The CoE is a joint initiative between the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY), education and research network (ERNET) and the IT industry body.

It is also supported by Accenture, Cisco, Intel, HCL Technologies, Qualcomm, TCS and L&T Technology Services, among others.

The centre was launched in a bid to encourage start-ups to come up with tech solutions centered on Internet of Things (IoT).

It will function as an enabler of funding, accelerating, and mentoring for start-ups in this area. The CoE laboratory, along with the Nasscom 10,000 Startups Warehouse, has the capacity to incubate up to 40 start-ups.